


What If

by Pi_Dreams



Series: Apologyverse [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Caring Logic | Logan Sanders, First Meetings, Human Logic | Logan Sanders, M/M, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Sweetheart, Pre-Slash, The Author Regrets Nothing, Thinly Veiled Criticism of Society, and hopeless at this romance thing, but there is coffee, logan is a total nerd, not really a coffee!AU, patton doesn't care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28654230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pi_Dreams/pseuds/Pi_Dreams
Summary: "I met Logan when I was twenty and… he was the first person that looked at me and saw a human. We were married two years later and I moved in with him.”  ~Patton, Make No Apologies, Chapter 17.The day that Patton, broke and desperate, met Logan, the nerdy college student that changed him forever.  Takes place twenty or so years before Make No Apologies.
Relationships: Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Apologyverse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2107245
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	What If

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is the first of my Apologyverse Continuation stories, and it's focused on Logicality. For everyone who hasn't read the original fic, you can still read this, but there are some undertones and references you'll miss. If you have read Make No Apologies, welcome back to the world! I'm so glad you're here either way. If you have any suggestions as to what I could write about next in this AU, leave them in the comments! I love hearing from you and I'd be delighted to try them. Enjoy the story!
> 
> ~Dreamer
> 
> TWs: food

Patton pulled his hood lower over his face, trying to shade the damning tattoo on his cheek. Nobody gave him a second glance as he hurried through the crowd, even with the grocery bags cradled to his chest. He’d gotten used to being invisible. The alternative was way worse. 

A body slammed into his and he yelped. The bags fell from his hands onto the concrete, egg splattering everywhere. The lettuce was promptly smashed. Well, it looked like he’d be going hungry again until the check came in on Friday. 

“I’m so sorry,” a voice behind him said, and he turned to see a man about his own age, skinny in a waifish sort of way, staring at him in horror with the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. “I’m so sorry. Here, can I help you pick up a little?” The man’s tie dipped into a puddle of egg as he scrambled to put apples back into a bag, and Patton couldn’t help the tiny giggle at the sight. The stranger finished with the groceries and handed them back, his eyes meeting Patton’s again. “My deepest apologies. I should have paid more attention to where I was going. I’ll buy fresh eggs and lettuce for you, of course, and as a further apology… could I buy you coffee?”

Patton stared at him for a second, blinking. Had he… just been asked out? By a man who literally ran into him on the street?

“I’m sorry if I offended you!” the man backtracked immediately. Patton finally found his voice.

“No, you didn’t! It’s okay, though, you don’t have to do any of that.”

“Are you sure? Your clothes have been repeatedly mended and there’s newspaper sticking out of a hole in your left shoe. You can’t afford new clothing, then, and you’re walking rather than take a bus or the subway. You have burns on your hands, most likely caused by hot grease, so you’re working with fried food, most likely at a minimum wage in a fast food restaurant. I have to conclude that you do not, in fact, have the money to afford the replacement groceries, and it would be entirely remiss of me not to buy them when I was the cause of their destruction.” The man paused and looked up. “Er. Was that rude? I’ve been told I’m bad about that.”

“It was, kinda,” Patton said, his heart melting. “But you’re a regular Sherlock! That’s so neat!”

“Er. Thank you?”

“You’re welcome.” Patton smiled. “You mentioned coffee?”

He was expecting a Starbucks or something, but the man called over a taxi and took him to one of the fancy shops he’d never had the money to think about going in. The sign on the door said Next Page Bookstore and Café, with a display of the most adorable socks in front. He was sorely tempted by a set with fuzzy puppy faces on them, but they were well outside his budget.

“I’m Logan,” the stranger said as they walked in. 

“Hi! I’m Patton.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Um, same.”

He was officially on cute boy overload. Logan was so earnest, and so nerdy, and those eyes- Patton thought he might get lost in them if he looked too long. Not that he’d mind! And he couldn’t help but want to hug that lanky frame, and feed Logan cookies, because he clearly didn’t eat enough, and- _nope, bad Patton, you don’t know if he’s gay, and if he was, you shouldn’t be thinking about that anyway, because this could go south really fast-_

“What would you like?”

“A small black coffee,” Patton muttered to his (slowly disintegrating) shoes. 

“It’s my treat, Patton. Do you really want that or are you trying to take down the cost as much as possible?”

Patton didn’t know. It was kind of instinctive at this point. “Surprise me,” he said, staring over at a display of vanilla cupcakes.

Logan ordered in a gabble of coffee-related words and philosophy questions, which the barista fielded happily, then led the way over to a small table by a window. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Um,” Patton very eloquently said again. “I’m Patton? You got it right, I work at a bad burger joint. I like puppies and kittens, even though I’m allergic to cats, and I hate spiders.”

“I’m Logan,” Logan repeated, but Patton could have sworn he was committing his likes and dislikes to memory. “I study cryptography at the university. I like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books and math and Crofter’s jam, and I dislike romance novels.”

“Okay,” Patton said. The barista came over with their coffee and he took a sip of whatever confection he’d ended up with. It was warm and sweet and he fell in love. “Oh wow this is good.”

“Indeed,” Logan hummed, lifting his own drink. “I saw you looking at the cupcakes. You like vanilla?”

“Yeah. I mean, I like sweet stuff.” Patton looked up at Logan, who was staring at him over the rim of his cup. “I know you want to say it, come on.”

“What would I want to say?” 

“The tattoo, what I can do, the whole thing. I know you want to ask.”

“I would never push you to reveal such information about yourself.” Logan’s lovely blue eyes shuttered into a cool stare. “I am not so crass as that. If you wished to tell me, you would. I do not find it impacts our relationship.”

That was… not what Patton had expected. Nobody had ever just… not cared about his Affinity. He took a swig of coffee goodness, and then another, Logan watching him the whole time. They didn’t say anything again until they were both done. 

“If you tell me where you live, I’ll drop you off and get the groceries,” Logan suggested, and Patton shrugged. 

“Sounds fine to me.”

The driver gave them a dirty look when Patton told him the address, but took the money and let them in the taxi. Logan’s eyebrows shot up when he saw the rickety building. “That… does not look like it follows the fire code.”

“Probably not,” Patton agreed. “But it keeps out most of the drafts and rent is cheap.”

“Patton,” Logan said, then paused. “I live in an apartment off campus. If you would like to move in, I… would not be averse.” He turned bright red. “Was that too forward? I’m sorry. Here.” He yanked a notepad out of his pocket and scribbled something down on it. “My number. If you ever need to call.” Patton took the paper with a shaking hand, then, like an idiot, stood there staring as the taxi drove away.

Late that night, wind howling so badly he couldn’t sleep and he was half-afraid the whole building would crash down around his ears, Patton laid in bed, holding the crumpled slip of paper. For the first time in almost a decade, he had the faint hope that maybe, someday, things could be better. He unfolded the paper and looked at it again. “Logan,” he murmured. "What if I did want you to know?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Concrit is always welcome, as are prompts/suggestions on where I could take this next!
> 
> _So what if it's us?_  
>  _What if it's us_  
>  _And only us_  
>  _And what came before won't count anymore- or matter?_  
>  _Can we try that?_
> 
> _What if it's you_  
>  _And what if it's me_  
>  _And what if that's all that we need it to be_  
>  _And the rest of the world falls away?_  
>  _What do you say?_


End file.
